DIRECTV to Introduce Additional TiVo Features

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:05:39 -0700, Bob Nielsen
wrote:
snip
The new HD channels should start showing up next month.

While initial reaction to the HR20 showed it had some problems, nearly
all of these have been addressed. Some of the requested "features" have
been added and others have not (and possibly won't). The software is
still being updated fairly often and it is a much better box than when
first introduced nearly a year ago and it should continue to improve.
It took me a while to adjust to the different interface, but I now
prefer it to the HDVR2 I used previously.

True,

In particular, I disliked the need to press the GUIDE button twice to
actually get the guide to show up. Apparently one of those upgrades
"fixed" that as there is now an option, and once set, I go directly to
the guide with one click.
Many of the other little glitches that I used to see are also now
gone. The interface is still not as nice as that on my HR10, but it's
a perfectly usable DVR.

--
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

Hi Dr P

Well where do I start? I bought a rear projection HD 1080 and am happy
as heck. The pictures are so much clearer, even those not HD and I
have the HR 20-700, I think that is correct as I just got it a couple
of months ago! The quality in the playbacks are just great. While I
do agree there is not a lot of channels for the fee I still get enough
to almost justify the 9.99 expenditure even though I would like more
at the same cost. Lucky for us we have several of our local stations
now broadcasting in HD or at least I think it is HD and we just love
it. I have a JVC 56" and the picture quality is great and I assume
that it is not only the set but the quality of the signal being sent.

Lee

Dr. Personality wrote:
Well, here's my dilemma. My wife and I have been talking about buying
a widescreen HD set, a big one, by the end of the year. I can wait
past that for DTV to supply the extra HD channels it's been talking
about, but the absence of an appropriate TiVo to record HD from the
satellite is another matter entirely. This lack is a problem for me.
If Dish is offering something more suited to my needs, it would be
foolish not to consider a change.

In article , Lee
wrote:

Hi Dr P

Well where do I start? I bought a rear projection HD 1080 and am happy
as heck. The pictures are so much clearer, even those not HD and I
have the HR 20-700, I think that is correct as I just got it a couple
of months ago! The quality in the playbacks are just great. While I
do agree there is not a lot of channels for the fee I still get enough
to almost justify the 9.99 expenditure even though I would like more
at the same cost. Lucky for us we have several of our local stations
now broadcasting in HD or at least I think it is HD and we just love
it. I have a JVC 56" and the picture quality is great and I assume
that it is not only the set but the quality of the signal being sent.


Thanks, Lee. I'm grateful you shared your opinion, especially as I'm
sorta wandering around in the dark on this.

I took a look at reviews of the HR20 a little earlier today. CNET, for
example, seems to like it better than its readers do, although some of
what the thumbs-downers talking about (premature cutoff of recordings)
seems to have been corrected, according to Bob Nielsen. I could live
with a non-TiVo DVR if it performed -- well, maybe not perfectly, but
better than adequately.

Thanks again.

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:28:38 -0400, "Dr. Personality"
wrote:



I took a look at reviews of the HR20 a little earlier today. CNET, for
example, seems to like it better than its readers do, although some of
what the thumbs-downers talking about (premature cutoff of recordings)
seems to have been corrected, according to Bob Nielsen. I could live
with a non-TiVo DVR if it performed -- well, maybe not perfectly, but
better than adequately.



I have the HR20-700 plugged into a 50" plasma, and to be quite frank it is
amazing when on an HD channel, either "live" or a recording.

As to the recorder I am very happy with it the only thing I would add would be
the ability to go to an exact part of a recording, this can only be done by
fast forwarding through. A similar box I had in the UK you could pick a time
for example x number of minutes from the start and I've missed this a few
times, but it isn't a big problem.
--
Lansbury
www.uk-air.net
FAQs for the alt.travel.uk.air newsgroup

Dr. Personality wrote:
Thanks, Lee. I'm grateful you shared your opinion, especially as I'm
sorta wandering around in the dark on this.

I took a look at reviews of the HR20 a little earlier today. CNET, for
example, seems to like it better than its readers do, although some of
what the thumbs-downers talking about (premature cutoff of recordings)
seems to have been corrected, according to Bob Nielsen. I could live
with a non-TiVo DVR if it performed -- well, maybe not perfectly, but
better than adequately.

Hi again. Well I went to the store and compared TV's and the picture
versus each that they had on the floor. Then I looked at my wallet
and then made the decision that "to me" there was not all that much
difference (old eyes) so that is why I bought the rear projection TV.
So far I have had no problems and it is over a year and the insurance
I bought on it was only $69 for 3 years which you can't beat. So I
have 4 years of insurance. The projection lamp runs about $200 to
$400 per the sales person. As far as DTV goes I have had zero
problems. They deliver what they say. I just dropped HBO as all the
programs I liked died out, Sopranos, Rome and Deadwood. But I still
get around 10 channels of HD and the rest make my old 19" RCA look
like a Flint Stone I am almost ready to get another TV like maybe LCD
that is at the low end to replace it. BTW if you have the old sets
the transmissions don't improve the signal but with a HD set they are
absolutely the best. They have a nature program on something like
Sunrise or something similar that would take y our breath away if you
are a nature buff.

Oh well, best of luck in your choices whatever they are. BTW the wife
prior to "my" purchase of the TV did not think it worthwhile as far
as the cost but I notice she does not try to use the old set which is
in my computer room (grin) So I assume she likes it also!

Lee

I can't speak to the HR20 but I can tell you that the software updates have
not corrected the premature cutoff of recordings on the R15! If they've
really fixed the HR20 I wish that they'd get off their duffs and fix the
R15, too!
--
Gary
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"Dr. Personality" wrote in message
...
In article , Lee
wrote:

Hi Dr P

Well where do I start? I bought a rear projection HD 1080 and am happy
as heck. The pictures are so much clearer, even those not HD and I
have the HR 20-700, I think that is correct as I just got it a couple
of months ago! The quality in the playbacks are just great. While I
do agree there is not a lot of channels for the fee I still get enough
to almost justify the 9.99 expenditure even though I would like more
at the same cost. Lucky for us we have several of our local stations
now broadcasting in HD or at least I think it is HD and we just love
it. I have a JVC 56" and the picture quality is great and I assume
that it is not only the set but the quality of the signal being sent.


Thanks, Lee. I'm grateful you shared your opinion, especially as I'm
sorta wandering around in the dark on this.

I took a look at reviews of the HR20 a little earlier today. CNET, for
example, seems to like it better than its readers do, although some of
what the thumbs-downers talking about (premature cutoff of recordings)
seems to have been corrected, according to Bob Nielsen. I could live
with a non-TiVo DVR if it performed -- well, maybe not perfectly, but
better than adequately.

Thanks again.

In rec.video.satellite.dbs John Duncan Yoyo wrote:
I think DTV may be riding out what ever contract for the POS- R15 and
other DVRs Uncle Ruppert saddled them with before announcing a new
TiVO based DVR. An old TiVO still beats what else is available.

Occasionally, I think my two DirecTV SD DVR units aren't that bad. Then
they do something that confounds me, that doesn't happen on the DTivo unit.

The DirecTV DVRs are unstable, inflexible, and annoying as all get out. To
someone who has never seen a Tivo, they might be a marvel of technology,
but, compared to a Tivo, they are dreadful.

--
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

I took a look at reviews of the HR20 a little earlier today. CNET, for
example, seems to like it better than its readers do, although some of
what the thumbs-downers talking about (premature cutoff of recordings)
seems to have been corrected, according to Bob Nielsen. I could live
with a non-TiVo DVR if it performed -- well, maybe not perfectly, but
better than adequately.


I've been using the DirecTV DVR now for two weeks. I've been a TiVo user for
many years, within a year of when they first came out.

While I don't like the interface of the DVR as much as TiVo's, I've not had
any problems with it shorting shows, missing recordings and the like. The
only problem was more of a weather related on with some high winds, rain and
lightning. Other than that, the unit performs well.

I've gradually getting used to it. I've been able to program my Harmony 880
remote for what I need with it quite well.

Right now the DVR is "different" than TiVo, not "substantially worse." Don't
get me wrong, I preferred TiVo but this is doable and it works as I need it.

Steve

Steve Dell wrote:

Right now the DVR is "different" than TiVo, not "substantially worse."
Don't get me wrong, I preferred TiVo but this is doable and it works as
I need it.

Well I've used a non TiVo DVR since the beginning, I went with Replay
TV, then with the Dish 625 which was an excelent machine and I wish I
could get one like it for Direc.. Had other issues with Dish though.

Now I have an R15.... I also have a vacuum cleaner. Both suck,
However with the Vacuum it's supposed to.

Things I do not like about the R-15
Missed recordings
Truncated recording and truncated playback
Only one output. Why give it two inputs if you only have one output
(yes, I know there are multiple output jacks but they are ALL THE SAME)
No ability to watch program save by that single output channel.
99 item limit on the "To Do" list, if you use what I call "Themed"
recordings (Season Pass since they are a sports oriented outfit) You
fill that up right quick so you can't program in movies and the like.

Things I do like: Single satellite source means less expensive external
hardware on the RV, and the advertised price is much closer to the
delivered price (not as many excuses to tack on an additional five bucks
here and there like Dish does)

Direc tells me that once I'm back to a spot with a view of the sky they
can upgrade my software (I had the latest a short time ago) and
re-format the drive and that will fix many of the problems.....

I suspect... It won't. The box has far too many "Known issues" I did
not sign up to be a beta tester and I'm not sure it's ready for Beta yet.

In rec.video.satellite.dbs Steve Dell wrote:
I've been using the DirecTV DVR now for two weeks. I've been a TiVo user
for many years, within a year of when they first came out.

Just wait. The most basic functions are okay, but the DirecTV DVR is truly
abysmal at anything that you haven't already used.

How do you switch tuners? LiveTV on the DTivo, or info and a down arrow.
You can do a dance of discovery on the DirecTV DVR, but it involves
recording shows that you don't want to keep, just so you can manipulate the
tuners.

What happens when there is a conflict coming up on the next hour and you
are watching live TV? It's difficult to figure out what it wants to do, and
I sometimes find that it is recording the same show on two different
channels. I "stop" one of them, and lose both. If I'm not actually live,
but back somewhere in the buffer, I am going to lose that, unless I record.

Where is a wishlist? If I wanted to record some baseball games, I might be
able to enter an auto-record for "giants at" which shows up in the listing
as "Giants @" and catches only the away games, but "at giants" doesn't find
the home games. The Tivo will catch both with an "at giants" wishlist.

The first few days with a DirecTV DVR are hard to get used to.
You know the Tivo interface, and the DirecTV DVR has a difficult interface
to grasp, even from no previous mindset. Then you get used to it.
Later, you will get frustrated when the things that don't happen every day
come into play. The DirecTV DVR was developed with no experience, very
little common sense, and hasn't been updated.

--
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5